Shake Your Tutu

© 2023 Mark Gowland: all rights reserved Reproduced with kind permission of the owner

Northern Dance Academy Shake Your Tutu 10 Dec 2023 19:30 Creative Centre, York St John University

Northern Dance Academy is a dance school in York.  It offers a wide range of classes in many styles of dance to both adults and children.  Its classical ballet and lyrical teacher, Christie Barnes, is a founder member of Powerhouse Ballet.  Christie introduced me to Sarah Dickinson, the Director of the Northern Dance Academy.  She invited our company to dance the extract from La Sylphide that we had performed in Dance Studio Leeds's Celebration of Dance on 25 Nov 2023 in Shake Your Tutu, Northern Dance Academy's Christmas show.

The show took place in the Creative Centre of York St John University on 10 Dec 2023.  It is a magnificent auditorium with 170 seats, a massive stage, excellent acoustics and the latest sound, lighting and projection equipment.  I attended the technical rehearsal which was an opportunity to see the capabilities of that equipment in action.

The performance began at 19:30.  It consisted of the following pieces in two acts with a 20-minute interval:

Act I:

• Rogue Raimdrops by the NDA Adult Dance Company choreographed by Christie Barnes 
• Snowdrops by Christie Barnes and Soraya Noumen 
• Once Upon A December by the Adult Ballet Beginners choreographed by Esther Wilson 
• Running with the Wolves by Anjuli Trace 
• Inner Voice by Esther Wilson and Hortensia Szalay 
• Underneath the Christmas Tree by the Advanced Tap Class choreographed by Stacey Young
• L'Enfer by Vera van Cool and supporting dancers 
• Round Round by the Junior/Youth Contemporary class choreographed by Julia Pittock 
• Flores by the Lyrical troupe choreographed by Christie Barnes  

Act II

• When the Land Meets the Sea a film by the NDA Adult Dance Company choreographed by Christie Barnes and filmed and edited by Mark Gowland 
• I wish it could be Christmas Every Day by the Grade 3 Tap Class choreographed by Stacey Young
• O Holy Night by the Advanced Pointe dancers choreographed by Christie Barnes 
• Make Believe by Natasha Young 
• Hallelujah by the Advanced/Intermediate Ballet class choreographed by Christie Barnes 
• A Contemporary Christmas by the Youth Contemporary class choreographed by Julie Pittock
• La Sylphide by Powerhouse Ballet choreographed by August Bournonville, Marius Petipa and Jane Tucker and staged by Jane Tucker 
• Tough Lover by Amber Yeoman 
• Runaway by Christie Barnes and Julia Pittock, and 
• A Night at the Ball by the Adult Contemporary class choreographed by Julia Pittock.

I enjoyed all the pieces.  It was clear that a lot of work had been done for each and every one of them.  It was one of the best student shows that I have ever seen.  

However, there were some personal highlights  Snowdrops was enchanting.  Two young friends frolicked as if in a garden.  Just before the end, winter clothes appeared on stage which the dancers donned.  Their winsome wave as they left the stage was quite charming.  I liked Anjuli Trace's solo Running with the  Wolves and the duet Inner Voice Esther Wilson and Hortensia Szalay.  Anjuli and Esther are also members of Powerhouse Ballet.  The children and young women in Round Round were delightful. Especially the little boy and the girl who carried him on her back for a while.

The second act began with the film.  Christie has posted it to her Facebook feed.  It is set on one of the big wide  North Sea beaches.  It happened to be Fraisthorpe but it could have been Northumberland, Berwickshire or Fife.  Mark applied some very interesting camera techniques including mirroring. In Max Richter's In The Garden Christine chose the perfect score.  The scene was idyllic. The East Coast is not exactly known for its balmy weather.  Although probably unintended one of the artists was a black dog which made a couple of appearances.  The animal appeared to be dancing.   I was also delighted to recognize several members of Powerhouse Ballet in the film.   I hope our company can collaborate with Mark and Christie in making dance films in the future.

Although obviously not impartial I was bowled over by Powerhouse's performance of an extract of La Sylphide.  The scene was set in a forest after James has left his wedding guests to pursue a sylph who has vanished up a chimney with Effie's ring (see La Sylphide resource page).   He meets the sylphs and is quite overcome by them.  Frank Lee danced James and the syphs included several members of the Northern Dance Academy.  I had seen the company rehearse the scene many times.   Indeed, I had actually taken part in some of the rehearsals.  I had also seen their performances in Leeds.  This was by far their best yet.  They danced with energy, flair and passion.   I felt compelled to rise to my feet to bellow "bravi".   I have never been more proud of them.

I have to congratulate everyone involved in planning and participating in the show.  Particular credit belongs to Christie who directed and produced the show and choreographed and/or danced in many of the contributions.  There seems to be no end to her skills and talents.   She even found time to make sleeves and wings for our sylphs costumes.   Even attending class with her is a pleasure for she has the most infectious laugh and a very ready wit.   It has been great to work with her on La Sylphide and I look forward to doing so again very soon.

Ballet Black Takes York by Storm

Nina Simone

Author Gerrit de Bruin Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Source 
amazingnina.com Courtesy o Re-Emerging Films

 

Ballet Black Then or Now and Nina: By-Whatever Means 23 June 2023 19:30 York Theatre Royal

I have followed Ballet Black for several years and have seen some great ballets by them including Chris Marney's War Letters, Arthur Pita's A Dream Within a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Cathy Marston's The Suit and Christopher Hampson's Storyville.  Every one of those works was impressive but none has impressed me more than their performance of Nina: By Whatever Means at York Theatre Royal on 23 June 2023.

Nina was created by Mthuthuzeli November.  Having seen his ingoma for Ballet Black and Wailers for Northern Ballet I came with high expectations.  Often that leads to disappointment because high hopes are rarely equalled but on this occasion, they were greatly exceeded.  November is one of Ballet Black's Senior Artists. He first came to my notice on 2 May 2015 when he appeared with Londiwe Khoza on Ballet Centrak's tour (see Dazzled 3 May 2015).  I have been following him ever since.  I particularly enjoyed his performance as the wolf in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Red Riding Hood as did my friend. Joanna Goodman, who also reviewed the show (see Sexy Wolf Stole the Show! 5 March 2017).

In Little Red Riding Hood November showed he was an actor as well as a virtuoso, but that is by no means an end to his talents.  He is a composer contributing the score as well as the choreography to Wailers.   He also created some of the music for Nina and designed its sets.  In the Q&A that followed the performance, we learned that the idea for a ballet on the life of Nina Simone had been his. Dramaturge and librettist can also be added to his catalogue of accomplishments.

The ballet started with the young Simone as a child in rural North Carolina. It followed her training as a classical musician in New York and the debut of her career as a nightclub singer.  Simone suffered mental distress at various stages of her life which Alves called her "demons" in posthumous correspondence in the programme notes.  Those dark periods were represented in the ballet too.   

Simone was much more than an outstanding artist.  She was one of the drivers of political and social change that I witnessed first-hand as a graduate student in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.   That was the climax of the civil rights movement but there were also protests against the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and the beginnings of the women's movement.    In a maelstrom of change, Simone stood firm and tall.   

In casting Isabela Coracy as Simone, November practically brought Simone back to life,   A scene that haunts me is of Coarcy with her clenched fist in the air as the dancers swirl around her to chants of "power".  That is how I remember Simone in real life.  

The audience exploded in applause.   We Brits are not the most demonstrative - particularly not those of us who live in Yorkshire.  At the reverence, every single member of the audience rose to their feet.   I was hoarse from cheering and my hands throbbed with clapping.   I think we all felt that we had seen something special that night,

Nina was the second part of a double bill that night.  The first was Will Tikett's Then or Now.  I shall not attempt to review it because I missed the start owing to acute congestion on the way into York city centre. What I saw of Then as Now I liked a lot    Happily there will be another chance to see the double bill in the Autumn as the company will dance again in Watford. Norwich, Durham and the Lowry.   

Digwyddiad Cyntaf yng Nghymru - February Company Class in Myndd Isa

© 2023 Powerhouse Ballet: all rights reserved

 

I was inspired to found Powerhouse Ballet by the examples of the Chelmsford Ballet Company in Essex and the Duchy Ballet in Cornwall,  As Huddersfield is about the same size as Chelmsford and has good road and rail connections with Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield I thought about basing the new company in Huddersfield and calling it the Huddersfield Ballet,  I decided to broaden it to Powerhouse Ballet because the original concept of the Northern Powerhouse was a Leeds to Liverpool agglomeration as a counterweight to London (see my article Creating a Northern Counterweight to London is good for the Nation 5 April 2014 IP Northwest).  That is why I resolved to alternate monthly events between Yorkshire and the Northwest.

We held our first company class in Huddersfield in May 2018 and attracted 11 dancers "from Salford in the west and York in the east, from Harrogate in the north and Birmingham in the south and points in between" (see We have a Company 27 May 2018 Powerhouse Ballet).  We held our second class in Manchester in June and attracted four beautiful dancers from Wales.  Two of them, Holly Middleton and Alicia Jelley, were chosen by Terence Etheridge to dance in his ballet Aria.  They rehearsed assiduously for 6 months even though they are busy young women with careers and families.  The distances they had to travel were enormous as rehearsals alternated between Leeds and Manchester and on one occasion York.

During that time I promised them events west of Manchester including at least one in Wales just as soon as they could be arranged.  The pandemic and the closure of our studios in Liverpool and Manchester delayed the delivery of that promise until 25 Feb 2023 when we held our first company class at Elite Studios in Myndd Isa near Mold.  The class was delivered by Alicia Jelley who teaches at the studios. It included Sarah Lambert, Sue Pritchard, Holly Middleton, a very gifted local dancer and me.  It was not a big class but it was a very good one.  Alicia worked us very hard at the barre, in the centre and in the choreographic exercises.

Elite Studios is an excellent venue.  It is very close to the A55 and there are acres of free parking in the village centre and behind the studio.  There is a Sainsbury's local with an ATM and a fish and chip shop that would delight Gareth the Orangutan nearby.  The studio has two well-equipped studios with fixed barres and well-sprung floors, ample changing facilities for both men and women and excellently maintained bathrooms.   We shall certainly be back. 

As soon as it can be arranged I plan to hold a residential summer school which will alternate between the university cities of York and Bangor.  According to Christie Barnes, York St John University could host the York school.  We have already held a Giselle workshop and a rehearsal for Aria there.  The Bangor venue could be a recently opened youth theatre called Frân Wen.  We have already recently received an expression of interest from its management.  There is a lot of work to be done and I am not sure that I will be ready by this summer but we have made a start,

Photos from Birmingham Royal Ballet's Northern Tour

Robert Parker as Captan Belaye in Birmingham Royal Ballets Pineapple Poll

Photo Roy Smiljanic
© 2017 Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

I reviewed the Birmingham Royal Ballet's performance of Solitaire, 5 Tangos and Pineapple Poll at York on 12 May 2017 in Birmingham Royal Ballet's Northern Tour 2017 13 May 2017. I now have some lovely photos of scenes from the triple bill which I am delighted to share with you thanks to Mr Lee Armstrong. the company's design executive. I should stress that the photos were not taken at the performance that I reviewed but they will give you a good idea of the costumes, scenery and choreography.

The artist who danced Captain Belaye in York was Matthias Dingman. The artist in the photograph above is Robert Parker who is the Artistic Director of Elmhurst Ballet School.  Parker would be very well cast for the role of a sea captain as he is qualified in real life to be an airline captain. According to his biography, he acquired a commercial pilot's qualification in 2008. Last week Northern Ballet and Phoenix hosted a dancers' career development workshop at Quarry Hill helping dancers explore their career options when they retire from the stage (see Evolve in Leeds 4 May 2017). Even though he has returned to dance as Artistic Director of a leading ballet school, his qualification shows that dancers really can do anything.  I would quite happily board a 747 in the knowledge that its captain has reliably supported high flying and fast moving ballerinas through countless fish dives. Incidentally, I last saw Parker at the 25th anniversary of the Birmingham Royal Ballet's move to the Hippodrome and David Bintley's 20th anniversary as the company's Artistic Director (see In Praise of Bintley 21 June 2015).

In my review of Solitaire I mentioned how much I enjoyed "Desmond Heeley's gorgeous costumes - especially the red bodice of Baselga's tutu - and his draping golden sun backcloth design" which you can see in the photo below

Miki Mizutani in Solitaire

Photo Bill Cooper
r© 2017 Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

Readers will recall that Dame Ninette de Valois asked Sir Kenneth MacMillan to create Solitaire at very short notice using sets and costumes that had been designed for The Angels by Cranko.

Finally, two glorious shots from 5 Tangos also taken by Bill Cooper:

Birmingham Royal Ballet 5 Tangos

Photo Bill Cooper
r© 2017 Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

Birmingham Royal Ballet 5 Tangos

Photo Bill Cooper
r© 2017 Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

DEL Dance Theatre -

DEL Dance Theatre is a new dance company for young people in York. According to its Facebook page, DEL stands for "Dance", "Education" and "Learning" though it also appears to be the middle name of the company's founder, Hayley Del Harrison. The reason I know that is because the company is appealing for funds on Crowdfunder for a new production of Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals which will feature several styles of dance.

I cannot think of a better score for its repertoire. That music, and in particular The Swan, kindled my love for ballet. My mother was lucky enough to see Pavlova dance Fokine's interpretation of that movement (see In Leeds of all Places - Pavlova, Ashton and Magic 15 Sept 2013). I saw a great performance of that work by Elena Glurdjidze in the Gala for Ghana on 4 Feb 2014 and was able to tell that great ballerina how much I enjoyed her performance a few days later (see Elena Glurdjidze - So Lovely, So Gracious 11 Feb 2014). A year afterwards Javier Torres danced Michel Descombey's version in Northern Ballet's Sapphire gala on 15 March 2015. A week later I saw Christopher Marney's beautiful version for Chelmsford Ballet (see A Delight Indeed 22 March 2015).

The company had appealed for £1,500 and has already exceeded that target. The appeal, incidentally, ends at 15:05 today British time so there is still time to contribute if you would care to do so. The aim is to introduce musical theatre to the young people of York, both as patrons and performers.  Ms Harrison explains that:

"Dance theatre not only entertains; it sparks the imagination, provides tools for expression, and increases our ability to empathise."

She adds that though there is a lot of other artistic activity in York there is not much home-grown musical theatre in the city - especially not for children. The company plans to fill that gap offering opportunities not just for the young:

"We are also keen to draw on the talent and skills of so-called ‘mature’ dancers living in the area (these people should be cherished, not side-lined!), and provide opportunities for them to share their experience and knowledge."

And not just for dancers as local artists and musicians are also invited to participate in the project.

Ms Harrison spent her career in the West End and on stage. I plan to review the show when it appears and also to write a longer feature on the company for Terpsichore Yorkshire.

Birmingham Royal Ballet brings Shakespeare to York

York Theatre Royal

Source Wikipedia
Creative Commons Licence

Birmingham Royal Ballet, Shakespeare Triple Bill, York Theatre Royal, 14 May 2016, 19{30


Birmingham Royal Ballet has a lot of links with Yorkshire. Brandon Lawrence, one of my favourite dancers, comes from Bradford and David Bintley, the company's artistic director, comes from the next village to mine (see My Home and Bintley's 12 May 2015. "We like coming to York" said Jade Heusen in the talk before the show and I think I speak for most theatre goers in this county when I say that we like having you here but we wish we could see a lot more of you. Not just the Northern tour and not just in York but in Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Hull and any other theatres in the county that are geared up for dance.

I asked David Bintley about that once and he seemed receptive to the idea. He said that he had first seen ballet at the Alhambra and that it would also be good to see Northern Ballet in Birmingham. One of the reasons why that does not happen now is the perceived need to build up local loyalty for regional ballet companies, but I don't think it works like that. Three of Northern's biggest fans of my acquaintance live miles from Leeds. Two in Buckinghamshire and one in Merseyside. I for my part feel a particular attachment to Scottish Ballet which was the first dance company that I got to know. I do not see it anything like as often as I wish because it is in Glasgow which is further away than Birmingham. I am also a Friend of Ballet Cymru, Ballet Black, the Dutch National Ballet and Covent Garden. I donate regularly to Northern Ballet, attend all its shows and take at least one adult ballet class there every week but I am just as much a fan of English National Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Anyway, this beautiful company (or at least part of it) was in York last Saturday night and it brought a programme of ballets based on the plays and sonnets of Warwickshire's most famous son, William Shakespeare. The programme began with Wink choreographed by Jessica Lang to a score by Jakub Ciupinski. It was followed by three pas de deux from Ashton's Dream, MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet and Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew and concluded with José Limón's The Moor's Pavane.  I was attracted to the show by the prospect of seeing the three pas de deux which are among the best bits of three of my favourite ballets. I was not disappointed. They were danced exquisitely and were the highlight of my evening; but I liked Wink too and The Moor's Pavane somewhat more.

As I remarked in my review of the company's  performance in Birmingham in Ashton's Double Bill 21 Feb 2016, I cannot even hear Mendelssohn's music let alone watch The Dream without thinking of Dame Antoinette Sibley who is my all time favourite ballerina or indeed Sir Anthony Dowell who partnered her in this as in all ballets so beautifully. It makes me root for tissues. Titania was danced by Karla Doorbar who looks a little bit like Sibley and Obseron by the magnificent Chi Cao. I think I enjoyed watching them even more than I did Sakuma and Caley in Birmingham.

Ideally an interview or at least a pause should have finished that performance but it was followed immediately by another treat. Tyrone Singleton and Celine Gittens danced the second pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet.  I had seen Singelton as Romeo once before when he took over the role from Jamie Bond at very short notice but this time he was dancing with Gittens and when those two are together the result is magic. I saw them in Coppelia at The Lowry last year and they were sensational. They were sensational again last Saturday night.

The last pas de deux was from one of my favourite ballets (even though I have only seen it once) by my all time favourite choreographer, John Cranko, and its was danced delightfully by Elisha Willis and Iain Mackay. It was from the part of the ballet that starts with a battle of wills but ends with the first signs of attraction and softening by Katherina. It is an amusing but also very beautiful piece and the change in mood is caught by the choreography. This work was created for the Stuttgart Ballet and it is performed not nearly as frequently as it should be in this country.  I look forward to Birmingham's production at the Hippodrome next month very much.

According to David Mead's programme note Wink comes from the first line of Shakespeare's sonnet 43 "When most I wink, then do my eyes best see." As it was also derived from the sonnets I could not help comparing Lang's work to Kate Flatt's Undivided Loves for Phoenix Dance Theatre which I reviewed in Phoenix's 35th Anniversary Tour 18 Feb 2016 and I have to say that I think I liked Flatt's work more. The score was stronger and the choreography more interesting. The black and white slabs that are intended to represent pages according to the programme note were distracting. I found it hard to get into the work and maybe need to see it again when I have not driven from Holmfirth to Bradford, Bradford to Manchester and Manchester to York all in the same day. What could not be faulted was the dancing and so many of my favourites were in that work including Singleton, Gittens, Cesar Morales, Yijing Zhang and Ruth Brill.

Created in the year of my birth The Moor's Pavane is a classic of American dance that I have long wanted to see. It tells the tragedy of Othello to the music of Purcell in 20 short minutes. Morales was the Moor, Yvette Knight was Desdemona, Chi Cao was Iago and Yijing Zhang was Emilia.  A powerful, very beautiful but also quite disturbing work. It is performed without props. The story is told entirely by the music and perhaps also by the lighting.

I should say a word about the theatre. Built in the ruins of St Leonard's Hospital it is one of the most beautiful and intimate theatre that I know.  it was established in 1744 and has staged many great productions. In her talk Jensen mentioned that it was adapted well for dancing. I can well understand why the company likes performing there. Situated not far from the Minster and almost opposite the art gallery and some lovely public gardens with a pleasant cafe and bistro the theatre is a tourist attraction in its own right,

Birmingham Royal Ballet comes to York

At this time of the year the dancers of the Birmingham Royal Ballet split into two tours. One goes to Durham, York and Shrewsbury while the other visits Poole and Truro.   Each tour has a different programme.  The Northern programme consists of ballets based on Shakespeare's plays and sonnets and features Wink, the pas de deux from The Dream, Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew and The Moor's Pavane. The Southern programme includes two of may favourite works, van Manen's Five Tangos and Ashton's Monotones II.

I have a ticket for the Northern tour in York and am looking forward to it tremendously. I always associate The Dream with Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell who are my favourite dancers of all time and I cannot watch that ballet without thinking of them.  Cranko is my all time favourite choreographer and The Taking of the Shrew is pretty close to the top if not the very top of my favourite ballets. I am also looking forward to Jessica Lang's Wink very much indeed.

However I would love to have seen the Southern tour as well.  Last year that tour visited High Wycombe which is less than two hour's drive from Holmfirth but Poole and Truro are just too far away.  I have checked the trains and even the airlines but that would mean taking a whole day off work or missing the Northern tour.

Happily both Monotones II and 5 Tangos are danced not too infrequently by the company so I should see them one day. Also, we have a really super cast for Saturday which includes Tyrone Singleon, Céline Gittens, Chi Cao and Ruth Brill to mention just a few. It should be a real treat.

Birmingham Royal Ballet in York

Grand Opera House, York, 20 May 2015

This month the Birmingham Royal Ballet split in two. One part is touring York, Nottingham, Durham and Shrewsbury ("the Northern tour"). The other Truro, Poole, Cheltenham and High Wycombe ("the Southern tour"). The Northern tour is dancing Les Rendezvous, Kin and Elite Syncopations which I believe the Southern tour danced last year. I caught the Northern tour at the Grand Opera House in York yesterday.

I had been to the Grand Opera House once before. My late spouse and I celebrated our silver wedding anniversary by watching the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School gala there on the 29 July 2007. I remember that evening for all sorts of reasons. I had already started a course of endocrinology that was already changing my appearance. I was about to change my name and dress under clinical supervision which was likely to add all sorts of complexities to our marriage. My late spouse was already tiring and faltering for no apparent reason. Symptoms of an illness that was eventually diagnosed as motor neurone disease. It was a lovely evening which we knew would be our last as a conventional couple. We had intended to continue celebrating the anniversary come even after I had changed my name and status. What we did not know was that it would be our last anniversary celebration ever.

I did not keep this blog in 2007 but I have located a review of the gala by Charles Hutchinson which appeared in The Press on 31 July 2007. It was the first time I saw Xander and Demelza Parish and they stick in my memory because their performance in Christopher Hampson's Echoes was outstanding. I expected them both to go far but I did not expect that the next time I would see Xander would be in the title role of Romeo and Juliet with the Mariinsky at Covent Garden (see Reet Gradely: Romeo and Juliet, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House 29 July 2014 31 July 2014). There were many other stars that night such as Warne Sleep, Lauren Cuthbertson, Marianella Núñez, Samara Downs and of course Marguerite Porter.  It was altogether a wonderful evening.

I saw the delightful Downs again last night dancing the Calliope rag sexily and sultrily in Kenneth MacMillan's Elite Syncopations. We had also expected to see her in Alexander Whitley's Kin but sadly that was not to be. Towards the end of the first and as it happened only interval Marion Tait squeezed through the curtains and welcomed us to the show. "If only that was all I had to say", she continued, but alas we learned that Delia Mathews had sustained an injury in Les Rendezvous and had to be rushed to hospital. As she was to be the lead female dancer in Kin it could not be performed without her. So the stage had to be set for Elite Syncopations which Tait said that she knew we would enjoy.

Had such an announcement been made at a rock concert, football match or some other entertainment the audience would have taken it badly but ballet is different. We know that every performance is subject to the artist's availability, that injury is a constant worry for dancers and that sometimes there have to be cast changes or even cancellations. Throughout the auditorium there was a surge of sympathy for Mathews. Ballet is like a family even for the audience and everyone was concerned for her as we would be concerned for a family member. We couldn't help noticing the incident which came towards the end of the ballet but it was over in a trice. Brave lady and pro that she is, she picked herself up in a trice and continued to dance gracefully off stage even though she must have been in considerable pain. Although Tait said the injury was serious I was relieved to learn from a manager that it was muscular and there was no damage to a tendon. There is every hope that she will make a full recovery. Like everyone who was in the theatre I send her my love and wish her well.

While the evening was shorter than I had expected it was every bit as good as I had hoped for. Ahston's Les Rendezvous to Auber's music as arranged and orchestrated by Constant Lambert was delightful. Sadly no programmes were on sale last night because someone had sent the wrong ones to York but I had seen the ballet before and knew that it was one of Ashton's first works. According to Wikipedia it was first performed by the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1933. The costumes and the backdrop had a period feel and I thought they must have been the original designs until I read that they had been created by Anthony Ward. I loved the women's dresses with large polka dots and the men's blazers in different colours. Quite like the Stewards enclosure at Henley. Mathews danced beautifully in Les Rendezvous as indeed did everyone. But if I have to single out anyone it has to be Brandon Lawrence, a Bradford lad who clearly relished his return to God's own county. He danced proudly and magisterially. There was no doubt that he was glad to be back on home turf.

Though they must have been concerned for their colleague the dancers and orchestra gave Elite Syncopations their all. For those who have not seen it,this ballet was created by Kenneth MacMillan a few years after he had succeeded Ashton as principal choreographer at Covent Garden. The music is by Scott Joplin and it is delivered by the musicians on stage. Each of the dancers does a turn. I have already mentioned Downs's Calliope which everyone loved but there were more delights: Reiina Fuchigami and Oliver Till in The Golden Hours, Yvette Knight's Stoptime Rag, James Barton and Yijing Zhang in The Alaskan Rag, Chi Cao's exuberant Friday Night and the whole cast's joyful entry and exit.

Like the 2007 gala I shall remember yesterday as an evening of great ballet. The company had a good audience. There was thunderous applause at the end including some serious amphitheatre style whooping from a gent in one of the rows behind me. York has an opera house that is grand in more than name only.